chocolate
by oh-the-linsanity
Summary: Eren notices a lot of things upon his return from his 5 year mission in Sina with Historia: 1) Armin's hair is much longer, 2) Jean wears glasses, and 3) Mikasa's a mom.
1. Chapter 1

Eren notices a lot of things upon his return from his 5 year mission in Sina with Historia:

1. Armin's hair is much longer.

2. Jean wears glasses.

3. Mikasa is a mom.

Granted, the last one has a heavier impact than the other two.

"I couldn't tell you," Mikasa mumbles, looking at the floor as she bounces her daughter in her arms. "I wasn't allowed. It would have jeopardized a lot of things."

Eren swallows thickly and stares at the small girl in her arms. From what he can tell, she's got Mikasa's colored hair as she hides her face in the crook of her mother's neck. He opens his mouth and closes it, a loss at what to say. He points to the girl as if asking permission to talk to her. Mikasa nods. "Hey, there…" he doesn't know her name, and Mikasa hasn't supplied it, "Hey little one," he settles on. "My name's Eren."

Shyly, she peeks one eye out to look at him. It's twenty different shades of grey like Mikasa's, but wider and rounder. "Hi," she squeaks out, before she goes back to hiding. Eren finds himself smiling.

"Carla," Mikasa says, and something in Eren's stomach churns. "I have to go to work. Eren here is going to take care of you for a while." That churning feeling in his stomach grows stronger.

"Where's Armin?" Carla whines.

"He has to go to work with me. Don't worry," she says as she places Carla in Eren's unsuspecting arms. "Eren is a very close friend. I know him just as well as Armin. He'll take good care of you, I promise."

"Okay, Mama." She leans away from Eren and reaches up to touch Mikasa's face. Mikasa leans down and pecks the small girl on the lips.

"Be good," she murmurs, before she leaves.

Eren is too shocked at the whole situation he doesn't remember to protest, doesn't remember to remind Mikasa that he knows next to nothing about children—but surely, she already knew that. The little girl looks up at him with curious eyes and eyebrows that arch into her wide forehead, not all unlike his own. "Come on," he sighs, lifting the girl to sit on his shoulders. She giggles. "Let's go outside."

-/-

"So, Carla, how old are you?"

They're out sitting in the grass, underneath an apple tree. Eren watches with amusement as she walks around picking flowery weeds and dropping them in his lap, her intentions unclear to him.

"I'm four!" she declares proudly, plopping beside him in the grass.

He does some quick math in his head. "You birthday was a few months ago?" She nods. "Very neat. Do anything special for your birthday?" he asks.

"Mmm, no," she hums, playing with the weeds and twisting some of the longer stems off. "Mama had to leave on a trip. I stayed with Armin."

Eren reaches up and plucks an apple from the low branch. "Does Mikasa go on a lot of trips?"

Carla nods. "Yeah," she sighs sadly. "She says she has to."

"I'm sorry to hear that. But," she looks up, curious as Eren digs through his pocket. "How about a late birthday present to make it a little better, hmm?" He holds out his hand and presents her with a small square wrapped in paper.

"What is it?" she asks.

"It's chocolate," he opens it up and show it to her, a small brown square. "Got it in the inner wall. It's really yummy," he taunts, handing it to her. At her reluctant look, he breaks the chocolate in half. He pops one half in his mouth. "Melts right on your tongue," and chocolate dribbles down his chin.

Intrigued, she tentatively places the other half of the chocolate on her tongue. Eren can't help but laugh at the wild look in her eye as her mouth erupts in a bright smile. "It's good!"

"What'd I tell you?" He reaches in his pocket and produces another piece of chocolate and hands it to her, which she greedily accepts. "Savor that, it's the last one." She eats it right away, like he figures she would.

After collecting all the little flowered weeds and assorting them in different piles by whatever criteria, she looks up at him, eyes still brimming with excitement. "Can I braid your hair?"

"Braid my hair?"

"Mmhm!" she reaches up to touch it, and Eren leans down a bit to help the reach. "You've got princess hair!"

Eren pulls a face. "Uh, princess hair?"

"Yeah, like Armin! His hair is really long! Mama's used to be kinda long too, but she cut it." Eren pictures Mikasa's newly cut pixie hair. He wonders how long she's worn it like that. "So can I?"

Granted, Eren's hair isn't nearly as long as Armin's, but it's gotten a lot scragglier in recent years, making it resemble his hair in titan form. "Sure," he shrugs, and Carla stands up, instructing Eren to stay seated on the grass so she can effectively reach. He doesn't agree to the flowery weeds in his hair, but he can't bring himself to protest as she braids teeny tiny braids all throughout his hair, while telling him stories he heard as a child from Armin. The hours past and she talks his ear off about Mikasa, Armin, Jean and all their other friends he's missed throughout the years. She even mentions captain Levi a couple of times. But eventually, curiosity gets the best of Eren and he finds himself saying, "Where's your dad?"

"Mama and Armin say I can't talk about it."

He frowns. "Why not?"

Carla hesitates. "Grown up stuff. She says it's hard to understand. She says it's to protect him, and me."

Eren doesn't quite follow. "Did she ever tell you his name?"

She shakes her head. "No. But," her bubbliness comes back, "Mama says he's very brave! The bravest person in the whole wide world!" Eren grins to himself. "And that he'll come back when it's safe."

He watches as Carla finishes one last braid made out of the strands of his brave. "I'm sure he loves you, very very much. Two great girls like you and your mom? I bet he can't wait to come back."

Carla giggles, weaving the last of the braids. "Done!"

"How's it look?" He poses, and she laughs more. "Do I look dashing?"

"Dashing isn't the word I would choose."

Eren takes a glance behind him and sees Mikasa, still in military uniform, 3D maneuver gear and all. "Mama!" Carla shrieks, and runs up to greet her. Mikasa picks her up with ease, and presses a gentle kiss to her forehead.

"What, got a better word than dashing?" Eren teases, and Mikasa presses her boot to his face. "Hey, hey, hey!" he laughs, swatting her away.

Mikasa sets her on the ground and holds her hand as they walk back to the cottage, Eren close beside them. "What did you two do all day? Besides play hairdresser."

"We told stories!" she says excitedly. She looks behind her and reaches out for Eren's hand. "And he gave me chocolate!"

"Chocolate?"

"For my birthday!"

"Ahh, I see," Mikasa mumbles, and she squeezes Carla's hand as she swings both Eren and Mikasa's arms back and forth. "Did you remember to thank him?"

"Umm," Carla falters, trying to remember.

"Look at my hair, Mikasa! This is more than thanks!" Eren exclaims. "She has a future in the Survey Corps as official hair stylist. Bet she can give Levi a mean undercut."

Mikasa drops the manners lecture. "What kind of stories did you tell?

"Well," Eren cut in before Carla could say anything, "We talked about all the fairytale books Armin read her, and the time Jean fell off his horse," Eren laughs at the one, "No stories about her dad though," Eren mumbles, and Mikasa shoots him a cold look.

Carla tugs on her mother's sleeve. "Don't worry, Mama. I told Eren that it's a secret," she made a shushing noise.

"Hmm," Mikasa expression relaxes slightly. "I've got a few stories about your dad," Mikasa says, and that surprises both of them.

"Really!?" Carla squeals. Mikasa normally brushes off the subject. "What's he like?"

"Annoying," Mikasa answers shortly, and Eren scoffs, completely unnoticed by Carla, "Stubborn, and loud. But," she sighs, "He's also very kind."

"Is he coming back soon?" Carla asks softly.

Mikasa grips tightly on her daughter's hand, eyes flickering to Eren's. "Yeah, sweetie. He'll be back soon."

Carla looks to Eren to share in her excitement, a grin about to rip her face open. Eren give her a wink. "Sooner than you think, kid."

She cheers all the way home, the taste of chocolate still in her mouth.

-/-

AN: Psssst yes, Eren's her dad :3 Mikasa had to keep it a secret because I would imagine it could jeopardize his mission, as well as Carla's life if people found out she was born from a titan shifter. So yeah, that kinda thing. I just wanted to write Mikasa as a mom I'm sorrryyyy I'm trashhh all of this is trashhh I'm sorry


	2. Chapter 2

"I don't get why you couldn't _tell_ me."

Mikasa sighs for the umpteenth time and sets down her kitchen knife, lips stretched in a deep frown. She takes a few steadying breaths, trying to ignore how Eren is practically on top of her, his new height advantage leaving his breath to tickle the top of her head. "Eren. Think it through, please."

He groans. "I'm not Armin, you have to spell things out for me." He pouts and leans down to rest his chin on the top of her hair.

"I do not, you are no longer a child," she huffs, stepping away to grab the carrots on the end of the counter.

"You're right. I'm not. You're not either. We're 21. But do you know who _is _a child?" Mikasa lets the loud chopping of raw carrots be her answer. "Carla. Carla is a child. But she's not just any child. She's _our—mmph!"_

Mikasa whirls around and shoves a carrot in his mouth, silencing him. "See, you figured it out after all." She says snidely, going back to prepare the stew. Eren rolls his eyes and takes a bite of the carrot before he lightly hits her on the top of her head with the other half. She snarls.

"Mikasa," and the tone in his voice has her relax in reflex. He sounds hurt. "If I had known you were pregnant, I wouldn't have gone on that mission."

"You had to go, and you know that," she sighs. Eren's mission was with Historia in covert operations and spying, which took 5 years in order to get the info they needed. "Besides it made it easier."

"What easier?" he growls.

"To convince other people that Carla's father was anyone but you."

He steps away from her and pounds his fist on the counter. "Damn it, Mikasa!" He circles around the counter to face her. "Why did you keep Carla a secret?"

Mikasa instantly regrets cutting all her hair off—she has an urge to pull it right out of her head. "Because," She grinds out, "The list of children with titan shifters as parents is a whopping _zero._ Nobody knew what was going to happen." Eren softens, his face falling. "I was in danger, as well as Carla." She grumbles, returning to the stew. "The pregnancy itself was awful—Hanji was constantly watching me, monitoring to make sure that Carla _wasn't a titan."_

Eren makes some sort of choking noise. "But she's okay, right? She's not like," he makes some vague gesture with his hands, "a shifter, right?"

"As far as we know. No one has run any tests on her since she was born." She throws Eren a guilty look. "People don't suspect anything considering…Armin signed as her father on her birth certificate."

He doesn't appear bothered. "I'd rather him than anyone else," he says softly, and Mikasa smiles, just a twinge. "But I'm here _now._" Eren whines, as he returns to hovering over here as she cooks. "I'm here and Carla's here and no one is a titan shifter but me, so can we stop doing all this secret stuff?"

Mikasa puts down the food and turns around. She looks up at him and studies his newly sharpened face. He's older, but just as anxious as he always was. "There will be a few _rules." _Mikasa says sharply, and Eren's face lights up like nothing she's seen in over ten years.

"Okay!" he agrees.

"She cannot call you 'Dad'"

"_Not okay."_

She swats at his shoulder. "Don't be like that. Did you forget what I just told you?" The scowl doesn't leave his face. "There's going to be hell of a lot of civil unrest going on, based off the info you collected from the inner wall. Let's not give those guys a weapon to use against you."

His scowl turns to horror and the thought of someone using Carla to get to him. "Okay, alright, you're right. No 'Dad.'"

Mikasa shrugs. "We'll teach her to call me 'Mikasa' if that makes you feel any better. Especially since we're going into the cities soon, we don't want anyone connecting any dots."

Eren rolls his eyes. "She looks _just _like you. And you're the last Asian. They're gonna know."

She hasn't considered that. "I'll keep that in mind."

In a moment of quiet, Eren reaches up to play with what's left of her hair. "Anything else?"

"No more giving her chocolate. She was wired."

Eren laughs at that and buries his face into her hair. "It was all I had left anyway."

She feels her cheeks grow hot at the contact. "Don't be too loud around her. You can get kind of scary when you shout."

He can't really argue with that. "I like to think my temper has gotten better these past few years. Job requirements and all. I think you'd be impressed."

"Mama!"

The two look up to see Armin at the doorway, Carla giggling madly atop his shoulders. "We're done with today's lessons." Armin smiles, and sets her down on the ground. "She's getting very good. Almost got the alphabet down."

"That's great, Carla," Mikasa congratulates softly, ruffling her daughter's hair after she runs over to hug her leg. Carla looks up to see Eren beaming at her and she hides behind her mother's leg, still a bit shy.

"Good job!" Eren gives her a thumbs up. "Armin's the smartest guy I know. Can't think of a better teacher."

"Thank you, I'm flattered," Armin laughs, walking over to join his friends. "Ooh, what are you making, Mikasa?"

"Stew."

Eren and Carla pull similar looks of disgust, and Mikasa rolls her eyes. "I've gotten better at cooking." No one looks convinced. "Honest!"

Eren looks to Armin for help who in turn looks up at the ceiling, whistling softly. "Hey, you know what sounds like a good idea? Pie."

"Pie?" Mikasa reiterates, and Carla quits hiding behind her mother's legs, excited at the possibility of more sugar. "I can't make a pie."

"But I can!" Eren cheers. He flexes dramatically. "Yeah, I learned a thing or two up in Sina. I can make a mean apple pie."

"Apples?" Carla bounced up and down. "There's apples outside! In the tree!"

Eren feigns surprise. "You don't say! We should go pick them. And after we eat all of your mom's delicious stew, we should bake a pie."

"Yay!"

Mikasa glances out the window and sees the sun winding down the horizon, enough light for an hour at most. Her eyes drift then to Eren, who's crouched next to Carla, babbling nonsense and playing clapping games with her hands, all with a grin about to split open his face.

"Can't they go apple picking, _mom?_" Armin says, throwing a pointed look Eren and Carla's way.

Mikasa hums in agreement. "Dinner will be ready in 30 minutes." She points at Eren with a ladle. "Make it quick."

"Aye, aye captain!" He salutes her and grabs Carla, practically running to the door.

"Be sure to pick ripe apples!"

"I know what to do!" he calls over his shoulder. He almost trips when Carla weaves in and out from under his legs.

"But don't get any with bruises!"

"I know, I know!"

Mikasa has a view of the apple tree from one of the windows over the sink and watches as Eren and boosts Carla up to pick an apple from a low branch. "You know he's going to tell her, right?" Armin says smugly, tasting her soup. He put more salt in it when he thought she wasn't looking.

"I know. He's impatient."

10 minutes later, Mikasa heard Carla screech "DADDY!" followed by hushes and giggles.

No. Eren couldn't keep his mouth shut; but as the two of them piled in for dinner, talking and babbling about pie crusts, Mikasa couldn't bring herself to mind.

-/-

AN: I FORGOT TO SAY THIS STORY WAS COMPLETE and since so many people wanted more, I decided to deliver. One more part!


	3. Chapter 3

"Hey, kiddo, want an apple?"

Carla swallows down a smart-ass retort about how she isn't a kid anymore as Eren takes a seat beside her and tosses the apple in her lap. He doesn't say anything for a while, allows the sound of crunching fruit as he bites into his own apple do the talking. She's thankful for it; it gives her time to think. The last battle against the titans is over, but it still leaves a funny taste in her mouth.

"How many of those are your original teeth?" she blurts out.

Eren looks at her curiously, and wipes his mouth with the back of his hand. "None."

"You've regrown all your teeth?" It shouldn't surprise her, but it does.

"Yeah, dozens of times." He flashes her a grin for proof, lopsided and goofy, much like her own.

She's quiet for a moment. "What _haven't _you regrown?"

The time it takes for him to mull it over is far too long. "You'd have to ask Mikasa or Armin. I don't remember."

"Are you fucking serious."

He laughs and reaches over to ruffle her scraggly looking hair. "Why does it matter anyway?"

Carla curls up into herself, abandoning the apple as it rolls out of her lap. "It doesn't, I guess. I was just wondering." But Eren knows her better than to accept that answer. Her mind does not wander—it's is calculating and goal-oriented. He waits. "Does it hurt when everything grows back?"

"Nah," he tells her, "Stings a little, maybe, but that's it."

"Does it hurt when they cut you out of your titan form?"

"Just a smidge."

"Eren?"

"Yeah?"

"Are there any more titans?"

He leans in and kisses the side of her head. "No, Carla. There aren't any more titans. I got 'em. We all got them. The war is over."

She leans into him, and he wraps one arm around her, guiding her head to rest against his shoulder—new and lean and free of scars. She thinks about the long pink line that crawls from her collarbone up her neck and she's momentarily jealous of his scar-free skin until she remembers that she still has all her original teeth.

"Titans were people, weren't they?"

Eren sighs out his nose. "They used to be. They weren't anymore." He squeezes her arm. "I don't think we would have been able to save them."

"Me neither. Doesn't make it feel any less sucky though."

"Yeah."

The quiet settles over them and Carla takes the time to look up at the crumbled ruins of the wall which frame the setting sun, a dull orange that sets fire to the horizon. She sees her mother's spirit in the colors and her father's will in the stones left in the wall. "Hey," she whispers, playful and bright, a sound the wind carries. "You can marry Momma now."

Eren smiles, a half grin that leave just one dimple on his face. It's been years since she's called Mikasa by anything other than her name. "I can. And you know what, I think I will." He leans in and kisses her temple again. "Big ole' wedding, hmm? And then the three of us, we'll go off, way beyond the walls and build a house by the sea. And Armin can come, and Jean, Sasha and Connie. Everyone. We can all live alongside each other."

"I'm all grown up now," Carla laughs. "You still want me around?"

"What kind of question is that?" Eren scoffs. "Of course we do. Besides you're only like, what, thirteen? That's not so old."

"Seventeen." Carla corrects and she smiles, slow and genuine, because all their dreams can be a reality now. "But yeah. I'd like that."

Eren nods. "I only wish we could have done it a little sooner," he pats her head sympathetically. "I'm sorry you had such a rough childhood, honey. Growing up in the military, having to all those secrets…having to pretend we weren't your parents, it must have been tough. And I'm sorry."

"It's okay, Eren," she sighs. "I knew you did it to keep me safe. I'm grateful."

"Still. Having to pretend the Great Eren Jaeger wasn't your father? What a tragedy."

"You think a little too highly of yourself."

He clucks his tongue. "That kind of attitude isn't going to get you any chocolate."

Instantly, her eyes light up. She sits up and looks him in the eye, and Eren has to laugh at her bright eyed and wonder-struck expression. "Chocolate? You have some?"

He reaches into his pocket. "Indeed I do. Nabbed some at last night's celebration." He hands her a piece, which she almost rips from his hand. "Haven't had any of this in a long time, huh?" he laughs as she stuffs the chocolate in her face greedily.

"Not since you gave it to me, that day I met you." she licks her fingers clean, and her eyes roll into the back of her head. "Sweet heavens, that is good."

Eren has two more pieces in his pocket, one for Mikasa and one for himself, but after seeing how excited she got from the first piece, he hands her his without a second thought. Carla looks so much like her mother—same hair, same eyes, same skin tone—with only his stubborn chin and rounded nose. He likes seeing her smile; it reminds him of when Mikasa smiled on those rare days when they were kids, before the titans breeched the wall and before it all went to total shit. "I bet we'll have a lot more chocolate now that we aren't restrained to the walls. Sasha's probably finding the recipe as we speak."

Carla laughs. "I might invest in that adventure with her," she says, savoring the second piece of chocolate a little better. "This stuff probably tastes really good in a cake. Ooh, or maybe cookies!"

Eren smiles fondly. "We should bake a cake tonight." He decides, his enthusiasm and determinism evident in his tone.

"Ooh, what about an apple pie? Haven't had one of those in ages."

"Why not both?!" Eren jumps to his feet and extends a hand, which Carla takes. "I think we deserve it."

Carla laughs and she suddenly feels four years old: standing under an apple tree with the man her mother promised would come back with her, the taste of chocolate in her mouth. In a childish gesture she jumps on his back and he stumbles, a bit surprised at the gesture, but hooks his arms under her knees as she wraps her arms loosely around his neck and nuzzles her face into the back of his hair.

"Let's go home, Daddy," she whispers.

Eren smiles.


End file.
